{"id":52218,"date":"2025-11-19T04:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T04:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/52218\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T04:02:20","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T04:02:20","slug":"homeowners-rally-in-tallahassee-as-lawmakers-weigh-hoa-overhaul-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/52218\/","title":{"rendered":"Homeowners Rally in Tallahassee as Lawmakers Weigh HOA Overhaul"},"content":{"rendered":"

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 A Tampa Bay couple fed up with their homeowner\u2019s association turned years of frustration into a protest at Florida\u2019s Capitol on Monday, pushing lawmakers to take up major HOA and condo reforms next session.<\/p>\n

Paul and Brandy Miller of Odessa rallied a small but determined crowd on the Capitol steps, joined by Floridians who say they\u2019ve been mistreated by their associations through selectively enforced rules, blocked home sales, surprise fines, or overwhelming legal costs. The Millers, now leading a nonprofit and online group called HOA Reform League \u2013 Florida<\/a>, say they\u2019ve heard hundreds of similar stories from across the state.<\/p>\n

Watch full report from Forrest Saunders<\/p>\n

Homeowners Rally in Tallahassee as Lawmakers Weigh HOA Overhaul<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here to have a voice,\u201d said Paul Miller. \u201cAnd to all the people that are out there on our social networks, cheering us on\u2026 thank you so much for being our voice. That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple delivered a stack of letters from homeowners detailing disputes they say current state law doesn\u2019t adequately address. They\u2019re calling for tougher enforcement and a way to hold what Miller described as \u201ccorrupt\u201d or \u201cabusive\u201d boards accountable when they break the rules.<\/p>\n

At least one lawmaker is listening. Rep. Juan Carlos Porras, a Miami Republican, met with the group and says HOA reform<\/a> is his \u201cnumber one issue\u201d heading into the 2026 legislative session. He\u2019s drafting an overhaul that would allow homeowners to dissolve their HOAs and create a new independent court-style system for resolving disputes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I would like to see \u2014 whether it be an independent court structure or an independent process \u2014 [is] where homeowners have the ability to take their concerns to a mediator or to a judge,\u201d Porras said. The goal, he added, is to \u201ccreate a whole new structure\u201d for HOA and condo oversight, separate from the state agency (DBPR) that many homeowners say is overloaded and ineffective.<\/p>\n

But even as the push for reform grows, new polling shows broad support for HOAs among those who live in them.<\/p>\n

A Tyson Group survey of 1,000 Florida HOA homeowners found:
\u2022 80% enjoy living in their association
\u2022 61% say the benefits are worth the dues
\u2022 Three out of four believe a ban would raise local taxes and increase neighbor disputes<\/p>\n

Mark Anderson, executive director of the Chief Executive Officers of Management Companies (CEOMC), says eliminating HOAs isn\u2019t the answer. Doing so, he said, would likely drop property values and raise taxes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo dissolve a concept of living that people really like is gonna make things worse, not better,\u201d Anderson said.<\/p>\n

As lawmakers prepare to return in January, it remains unclear how far reform efforts will go \u2014 or whether Porras\u2019 proposal will gain traction amid a divided public.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, the Millers say they aren\u2019t slowing down. They plan to take their protest on the road, organizing a larger rally in Miami this February to keep pressure on lawmakers during the session.<\/p>\n

Rep. Porras says his legislation is coming \u201cvery soon,\u201d with details expected in the days and weeks leading up to the 2026 session which starts in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Share Your Story with Forrest

Capitol Reporter Forrest Saunders is dedicated to sharing your voice with political leaders throughout the state. He works to hold our elected leaders accountable and amplify your concerns. Let Forrest know about the issues you want state leaders to focus on.
.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

‘They failed my son’: Florida mother continues legal push for accountability after son died in prison cell<\/p>\n

A Florida mother is demanding answers, claiming in a lawsuit that her son was killed in a state prison, but no one is being held accountable for his death.<\/p>\n

Mother continues legal push for accountability after son died in prison cell<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2014 A Tampa Bay couple fed up with their homeowner\u2019s association turned years of frustration into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[205,29,1042,320,9047,5052,5623,32873,3074,232,234,233,208],"class_list":["post-52218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-abc-action-news","tag-florida-news","tag-hoa","tag-home","tag-homeowners","tag-house","tag-lawmakers","tag-overhaul","tag-sunshine-state-news","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news","tag-wfts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}